Cap'n is in a crunch; Navy says he never served

It may not come as a surprise to some, but the fabled Cap'n Crunch personality that adorns the brand's cereal box fronts, never served in the U.S. Navy.

A Wall Street Journal blog, the Washington Wire, looked into the matter after online food writers alleged that the cartoon figure couldn't actually be a captain because his uniform has only three bars -- that of a commander -- and not the four bars of a captain.

A Pentagon official weighed in after the WSJ blogger addressed the question.

According to the WSJ report, Lt. Cmdr. Chris Servello, director of the U.S. Navy's news desk at the Pentagon confirmed that "we have no Cap'n Crunch in the personnel records."

Servello told the WSJ that the Navy Criminal Investigative Service would be notified because impersonating a naval officer is "a serious offense."

One WSJ reader who commented on the story correctly noted that in the Navy, the skipper, or captain, of a ship doesn't necessarily have to have the rank of captain to bear that title.